Chapter 47: The Madness You Make Me Love
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I stared into Crystal's eyes, anxiety thrumming behind my irises like a psionic migraine. "Wait. I used a piece of my soul to make that thing?" I asked, voice a strained octave above normal. "How bad are we talking here? Be honest — am I going to start hallucinating dead cats or bleed nightmares or something? Because I'm already halfway there, babe."
Crystal, radiant and ruinous as ever, gave me the kind of smile that could melt planets. "My precious Irvine, relax. The damage is not permanent. I can feel every ounce of your existential dread bleeding through the link — it's adorable, but entirely unnecessary. Your psionic potential will be significantly dampened, yes, but you'll recover."
I exhaled so hard I felt my ribs vibrate. "Okay, okay… not soul-death. That's good. That's fantastic. Temporary nerf I can handle."
